A platform for Talent

No educational trip is complete without a group discussion. As we visited the Catholic Junior College, Land Transport Authority, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Marina Barrage and Fusionopolis, we learnt more about their educational system, governance and administration. So, the main focus of our forum discussion was the education system, public administration and economic development of India and Singapore. We were divided into groups which consisted of Catholic Junior College students as well. So this provided exchange of views and good understanding of both the systems.

Education in India is very different from that in Singapore. The role of government in the education system of India is fairly minimal, whereas government plays a major role in Singaporean education. They follow one syllabus, that is, they have a nationalized syllabus unlike India where we have many syllabi. They strongly focus on physical education to provide a healthy life for their students, unlike India where study is everything. Singapore’s major resource is human resource and so they have to concentrate more on education to master it.

 Public administration is an important part of the government. In India there is a superior body to the Government, but in Singapore government is the supreme power. Singapore can be centralized and governed systematically as it is a small country unlike India which is huge both in terms of size and population. In Singapore the government provides housing to its citizens at lower rates to provide a better standard of living. The standard of their housing is very well known by the fact that around 85% of the population opt for public housing over private.

Economic development in Singapore is rapid and they are achieving great success. Singapore has a great future planning which is another major reason for its success and rapid growth. No doubt Singapore is the world’s 4th largest economy! India is welfare state where as Singapore is a fair state. Its size and population makes it all the more easy for it to provide every individual opportunity to progress.

At the end of this discussion, two members from each group had to go on the stage and present to others what they learnt from the discussion. We learnt a lot about the country’s governance. Over all it was an extremely interesting and knowledgeable experience.

After a great lunch, all of us were very enthusiastic as we were going shopping to Orchard road-“THE HEART OF SINGAPORE”. Being the shopaholics we are, all of us had great fun shopping there as we had a solid three hours time. We went to the Ion mall, the Tangs and the Far East Plaza to shop. As these malls had international brands of clothes,  shoes,  bags and everything we wanted. We had the best time shopping for us as well as our loved ones. After loads of shopping we boosted ourselves with a Starbucks coffee. After this we headed to China Town-“THE CULTURAL HUB OF SINGAPORE”. China Town brings the essence of China to Singapore. It has a variety of Chinese stuff like chop sticks, souvenirs, food and everything. We witnessed a Chinese musical concert which indeed was very enjoyable. Thus the whole day was extremely interesting as it had a blend of both fun and learning.